Onco Actu du 14 mai 2019

	2.6 ETIOLOGIE - ENVIRONNEMENT
Bayer statement on jury’s decision in California State Glyphosate Trial [Bayer] Bayer is disappointed with the jury’s decision and will appeal the verdict in this case, which conflicts directly with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s interim registration review decision released just last month.
Bayer stock at lowest in nearly seven years after $2 billion award in Roundup trial [Reuters] The jury awarded a total of $2 billion in punitive damages and $55 million in compensatory damages, concluding that Roundup - based on herbicide glyphosate - had been defectively designed, and that the company failed to warn of the herbicide’s alleged cancer risk.
$2 Billion Verdict Against Monsanto Is Third to Find Roundup Caused Cancer [NY Times] Bayer’s stock has taken a beating since the jury verdicts started coming in last summer, losing billions of dollars in value. Shares have fallen roughly 40 percent since Bayer completed its purchase of Monsanto in June.
	3.4 CHIMIOPRÉVENTION
Prostate Cancer Prevention and Finasteride: A Conversation with NCI’s Dr. Howard Parnes NCI] Due to the relatively small number of men who died from prostate cancer on both study arms, these findings probably won’t end the debate. But I feel they go a long way toward alleviating concerns regarding the potential of this drug to increase the risk of lethal prostate cancer.
	3.5 PRÉVENTION - UV
Research Check: should we be worried that the chemicals from sunscreen can get into our blood? [The Conversation] While small amounts of these chemicals may enter the bloodsteam, there is no evidence they are harmful. Ultimately, using sunscreen reduces your risk of skin cancer, and this study gives us no reason to stop using it.
	4.1 DÉP., DIAG. & PRONO. - PROSTATE
Measuring chromosome imbalance could clarify cancer prognosis [MIT] A study of prostate cancer finds “aneuploid” tumors are more likely to be lethal than tumors with normal chromosome numbers.
	4.12 BIOPSIES LIQUIDES
Grail, the liquid biopsy startup, picks an approach for its cancer test [STAT] Grail, the company that has raised $1.6 billion to develop a blood test to detect cancer early, announced Monday that it has settled on a method for its test and enrolled 115,000 patients in two large clinical trials. A third study, with 50,000 patients, has already begun.
GRAIL Announces Significant Progress with Multi-Cancer Early Detection Test Including FDA Breakthrough Device Designation [Grail] The company has developed a methylation sequencing blood test that preferentially targets the most informative regions of the genome to both detect the presence of multiple types of cancer and identify the tissue of origin (the part of the body where the cancer originated). The blood test is currently being evaluated in the second pre-planned sub-study of CCGA.
	4.7 DÉP., DIAG. & PRONO. - COL DE L'UTÉRUS
Studies Outline Outcomes Associated With Cervical Cancer Screening, Triage Strategies [Genome Web] In the long term, Feldman noted that primary HPV screening could well become the standard of care for women over 30, but she cautioned that "challenges remain," citing "clinician and patient education and acceptance; access to primary HPV tests; the development of simple, easily implementable, and evidence-based management advice; and systems-based approaches to help clinicians implement optimal care."
	5. TRAITEMENTS
New radiotherapy system that moves patients in sync with x-ray beam can deliver accurate treatment for brain cancer [Institute of Cancer Research] The treatment uses a technique called Dynamic Couch Rotation to carefully synchronise the position of patients with the motion of the radiation beam. For five patients with brain cancer, researchers calculated the new technique was as accurate as advanced radiotherapy, called Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT).
	5.1 TRAITEMENTS - PRÉ-CLINIQUE
Fatty acid metabolism as a possible new therapeutic approach for glioblastomas [DKFZ] In several preclinical models the authors of this study could now show that ACBP blockade deprives glioblastoma cells of their fatty acid supply and thus their energy source, resulting in a slower growth rate of tumor cells and, accordingly, increased survival time of the mice.
	5.10 TRAITEMENTS - ESSAIS
Two words to help Ned Sharpless revolutionize clinical trials: data standards [STAT] If Sharpless and the FDA were to take the following three actions, we could finally break out of the data standards standstill and improve the cost, speed, and fidelity of clinical trials.
	5.2 PHARMA
FDA questions credibility of Daiichi data ahead of AdComm [Fierce Biotech] Daiichi filed for FDA approval on the strength of a phase 3 trial that linked FLT3 inhibitor quizartinib to a 1.5 month improvement in overall survival (OS) over chemotherapy. The FDA subsequently pushed the PDUFA action date for the drug back to late August to give it time to evaluate additional data filed by Daiichi.
	5.2.3 PHARMA - ÉCONOMIE
Italian cancer startup Philogen gets off an impressive $70M funding round [Fierce Biotech] That figure is no small feat for a European biotech. Though it will need every euro, given it needs to get two drugs through phase 3: Daromun, which is being tested in patients with fully resectable late-stage melanoma, while fibromun is being studied in metastatic soft tissue sarcoma.
	5.3.4 TRAITEMENTS - AMM (FDA, EMA,...)
FDA approves ramucirumab for hepatocellular carcinoma [FDA] The trial’s primary endpoint was overall survival (OS). The estimated median OS was 8.5 months (7.0, 10.6) for patients receiving ramucirumab and 7.3 months (5.4, 9.1) for those receiving placebo (HR 0.71; 95% CI: 0.53, 0.95; p=0.020).
Lilly plays up Cyramza's biomarker edge in crowded liver cancer field [Fierce Pharma] With another indication to tout, Lilly isn’t resting on its laurels with Cyramza, for which it's pursuing an additional indication in non-small cell lung cancer.
Lilly's CYRAMZA® (ramucirumab) Becomes First FDA-Approved Biomarker-Driven Therapy in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma [Lilly] This new indication - the fifth FDA approval for CYRAMZA in an advanced or metastatic cancer - is for the second-line treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who are AFP-High (AFP ≥400 ng/mL).
FDA Approves Ramucirumab for Hepatocellular Carcinoma [ESMO] Approval was based on REACH‑2 (NCT02435433), a multinational, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre study in 292 patients with advanced HCC with AFP ≥ 400 ng/mL who had disease progression on or after sorafenib or who were intolerant.
	5.4 TRAITEMENTS - ECONOMIE
Now that Trump's forced drug prices into ads, what's next? Lawsuits and compliance, for two [Fierce Pharma] No organization has sued—not yet, at least, because several haven't ruled it out. The Association of National Advertisers is “seriously considering trying to find a way to block what we think is an unconstitutional proposal by the HHS,” said Dan Jaffe, who heads up ANA's government relations.
Grandstanding, not real change: Why drug prices in TV ads will be confusing and irrelevant [STAT] If the administration really wants to lower drug costs, the Trump team should look harder at more tangible — albeit controversial — notions, such as allowing Medicare to negotiate prices; establishing cost-effectiveness values for pricey medicines; and permit Americans to import some drugs.
	5.5.1.1 ASCO (GÉNÉRAL) - INDUSTRIELS
Bayer to present new data at ASCO 2019 highlighting commitment to evolve cancer treatment paradigm [Bayer] Data from Bayer’s growing oncology portfolio include new analyses on the company’s precision oncology treatment larotrectinib, with two oral presentations in patients with solid tumors that harbor an NTRK gene fusion: one on expanded data in pediatric patients and the other one in patients with brain metastases or primary central nervous system tumors.
	6. LUTTE CONTRE LES CANCERS
In cancer research, a winding road to discovery [MIT] The core of “A Contagious Cause” chronicles critical research developments in the 1960s and 1970s, as biologists made headway in understanding many forms of cancer. But beyond its rich narrative about the search for a single cancer virus, “A Contagious Cause” also contains plenty of material that underscores the highly contingent, unpredictable nature of scientific discovery.
	6.1 OBSERVATION
With cancer rates rising worldwide, oncologist shortage predicted [Reuters] Using a computer model, the researchers estimated that the number of oncologists needed to meet the demand for chemotherapy would rise from 65,000 in 2018 to 100,000 in 2040.
	6.10.1 POLITIQUES (USA)
Joe Biden may resurface a long-held dream: a White House laser-focused on cancer [STAT] With much of the early debate in the Democratic primary centering on health care, Biden’s stint as cancer-advocate-in-chief and orchestrator of the Obama administration’s “Cancer Moonshot” could give him the opportunity to make the disease, its treatments, and his own grief central to the presidential election.
	6.5 MÉDECINES ALTERNATIVES/COMPLÉMENTAIRES
The NORI protocol: An unproven fruit-based nutritional treatment for cancer sold by a self-proclaimed “expert” [Science-Based Medicine] Mark Simon is the founder of the Nutritional Oncology Research Institute. He has neither an MD, DO, nor PhD. (He doesn’t even have an ND!) Yet he claims to have discovered a dietary protocol that can cure cancer. Can it? (I think you know the answer to this question.)
	6.6 PUBLICATIONS
Open and closed – What do reverse flips tell us about the scholarly publishing landscape? [LSE Impact Blog] The fact that these journals seem to be moving against the prevailing movement towards OA, suggests they highlight key tensions within the scholarly publishing system that stem from the different interests involved and need to be resolved, in one way or another, if a full transition to OA is to be successful.
Just how common is positive publication bias? Here’s one researcher who’s trying to figure that out [Retraction Watch] Using a sample of studies of psychology and medicine, the new “meta-meta-analysis” diverges from “previous research showing rather strong indications for publication bias” and instead suggests “only weak evidence for the prevalence of publication bias.”
How to read and understand a scientific paper: a guide for non-scientists [LSE Impact Blog] Reading a scientific paper is a completely different process than reading an article about science in a blog or newspaper. Not only do you read the sections in a different order than they’re presented, but you also have to take notes, read it multiple times, and probably go look up other papers for some of the details.
	6.7.1 IA/BIOINFORMATIQUE
An AI Pioneer Explains the Evolution of Neural Networks [Wired] Google's Geoff Hinton was a pioneer in researching the neural networks that now underlie much of artificial intelligence. He persevered when few others agreed.
	6.7.2 APPLIS
Digital health: a path to validation [Digital Medicine] We believe an approach that is guided by end-user requirements and formal assessment across technical, clinical, usability, and cost domains is one possible solution. For digital health solutions to have greater impact, quality and value must be easier to distinguish.